Other Consumer Protection Laws and Regulations: New and Revised Examination Procedures

Note: The procedures for Servicemembers Civil Relief Act of 2003 (May 2011) and the procedures for Privacy of Consumer Financial Information (October 2011) have been removed from the "Other Consumer Protection Laws and Regulations" booklet and issued as separate booklets.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has revised recently the electronic version of the "Other Consumer Protection Laws and Regulations" booklet (Other Consumer booklet) of the Comptroller's Handbook. These revisions include both new and revised procedures as well as the incorporation of procedures that were distributed previously in OCC bulletins.

Specifically, new procedures have been incorporated for the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act of 2003 (SCRA). 50 USC App. 501 et seq. The SCRA provides certain financial protections to service members and, in some cases, their spouses, dependents, and other persons subject to the obligation of service members. These financial protections include restrictions on interest rates, contract recessions, foreclosures, and exercise of certain insurance policy options. The SCRA also has implications on adverse actions such as reports by or to a consumer-reporting agency that relate to the creditworthiness of the service member.

New procedures have also been incorporated for recent amendments by the Department of Defense to 32 CFR 232, which implements the consumer protection provisions of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, section 670, Limitations on Terms of Consumer Credit Extended to Servicemembers and Dependents (Part 232). Part 232 stipulates the terms of certain credit extensions to active duty service members and their dependents. In particular, part 232 applies to "consumer credit," which is defined as "payday loans," "vehicle title loans," and "tax refund anticipation loans" that meet specific parameters, and specifies interest rate limitations and disclosure requirements, among other requirements.

Revised procedures have been incorporated into the Other Consumer booklet for Regulation M (12 CFR 213), which implements the Consumer Leasing Act, 15 USC 1667 et seq. The revised procedures reflect changes to Regulation M that simplify and clarify requirements regarding e-communication and clarify the relationship of the regulation to the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (15 USSC 7001 et seq.). The revisions also contain specific examination steps to determine whether banks provide disclosure information to consumers as required by Regulation M.

Procedures for the following laws, which were distributed via OCC bulletins, were also incorporated into the revised electronic version of the booklet:

• Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
• Privacy of Consumer Financial Information.
• Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003.
• Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Junk Fax Prevention Act.

The Other Consumer booklet is available on the OCC website. If you have questions, please contact your supervisory office or the Compliance Policy Department at (202) 649-5470.

Ann F. Jaedicke
Deputy Comptroller for Compliance Policy